Christmas Abbott

Christmas came one month early to Inked in the form of Christmas Abbott, whose body has been perfected thanks to tattoos and CrossFit, the increasingly popular fitness training program. “My mother named me Christmas because I was born so close to the holiday,” she says. “Actually, it’s Christmas Joye simply because that’s exactly what I was to her—I was her Christmas joy. No returns or refunds!”

These days she comes wrapped in an array of ink, from butterflies and squirrels to sword-wielding goddesses and pistols. There’s a stereotype that all CrossFitters are tattooed, and she has a theory as to why: “I think it’s just that we embrace this more intense lifestyle,” she says. Her collection includes a squirrel in the ditch of her elbow, a piece she isn’t too pleased with (it almost earned the artist a “bicycle kick to the face with cleats,” she jokes). There’s also a goddess holding a flower, and a sword that she describes as “welcoming and aware.” That philosophy is something she tries to implement every day: “Be nice to everybody but always be ready to protect yourself, and be aware of your surroundings.” The mantra is part of her CrossFit routine too.

Christmas was introduced to CrossFit while working as a contractor in Iraq for a military company. “A friend showed me a CrossFit video called Nasty Girls, and at the end of it, the girl—Nicole Carroll, who is now my boss—started crying,” Christmas says. “It was so intense and it was like an epiphany for me. I wanted to do something so amazing that it just made me cry.” Because she didn’t have internet access, Christmas began creating her own variations of the program and watching CrossFit videos whenever she had the chance. She’s now a certified instructor and expands her goals and adjusts her lifestyle a little bit every day.

One of her toughest lifestyle changes? Eating right. “Nutrition is your baseline, and your workout program is going to work off that. I used to work out so I could eat cake,” she laughs. “But now my food is my fuel. You eat well, you work out well and you’re going to have a richer life. We are doing this so we can live to be 85, 95, or even 105. …But don’t get me wrong, I love me some bacon. Don’t take away my bacon.”

“There’s this stereotype that crossfitters are always tattooed—I think it’s just that we embrace this more intense lifestyle.”